Gladys Prepares a Frying Pan
by The USS Ficcelsior
Summary: Possible Omelette prequel.


" _Come on Madison, surprise me."_

\- Julian Wilkes, _Viper_ episode 1

* * *

First, there was only a virtual blue void. Then a single object began to take shape in the emptiness, as if existence itself was being born from the womb of the universe. The indiscernible matter inched closer, closer, until it came within the draw distance of the rendering software. It was a 3D model of a jagged shard of rock, like a tiny meteorite that had fallen to Earth in a long forgotten age.

"Kumi Akiyama, Pallas Type-B."

Kagami's voice echoed from the lab's intercom. A young Tennyo woman in a long white gown stood in front of a metal pedestal holding a glass bulb. Under the clear particle shield was an ancient fragment of a lost Hagoromo robe.

Technicians attached a pair of wires to each of Kumi's temples. In the control room above, a group of scientists closely watched her initial readings. Among the group, Alec was focused on his work at his console. Kagami and Gladys stood behind him. A look of repressed concern marked Gladys's face. Kagami's, cold stoicism.

"Miss Akiyama, please begin the experiment," the chairman commanded.

In the room below, the Tennyo closed her eyes and concentrated on the pedestal.

Kumi never wondered about what the C-Project was really supposed to accomplish, or even half the things they were willing to do achieve their goals. All that mattered was they took in lost girls like her and tried to give them a place in life.

Her parents had disowned her for destroying their home when her uncontrollable powers first emerged. Her boyfriend had abandoned her as an alien freak. All she had left was the staff of Mikage International. The chairman could come off a little creepy sometimes, but others like Gladys and Alec were always trying to inspire her. If she just a good job in the lab, she could become one of the Gold Plates and be admired by everyone around her. What was so wrong about just wanting to be with people who cared for you and appreciated what you were?

The ancient mana fragment began to emit a weak violet glow.

"How are you feeling, Kumi?" Gladys asked over the intercom.

"A little dizzy," Kumi answered, eyelids twitching in determination. She rested one of her hands against the pedestal to keep her balance. "But better than I felt last month."

Kagami studied the monitors over Alec's shoulder. He switched off the intercom and addressed the others in the command booth.

"Her waveform has stabilized. Good. Increase her reception."

Alec and the technicians leaned forward at their consoles and made the necessary adjustments.

"Okay, Kumi," Gladys quietly said through the viewing window, hoping the distant girl would sense her voice. "Let's show them what you've got."

Kumi's power grew, causing the wires at her temples to spark lightly. The robe fragment grew brighter and brighter, until the ancient stone was so energized that it became quasi-fluid. The object lost its shape, twisted like violet lava, and slowly began to take the form of a torn piece of celestial cloth.

Suddenly, Kumi overloaded. She threw her head back and screamed when the fragment was halfway through its transformation. Clutching the wires on the sides of her head, she staggered backward and collapsed on her side.

"Cut the amplifiers!" Kagami shouted on the intercom. "Medics, get down there _now_!"

Even though it wasn't part of her job, Gladys left the room and ran to Kumi's side just as quickly any of the doctors. After the medics removed Kumi's neural wires, she helped the hurt Tennyo back up.

"Kumi, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be okay," Kumi replied as she shook her head. "It's this migraine again."

She rubbed her hand against her temple, wincing slightly. Gladys felt terrible for putting the girl through another stressful experiment and having nothing to show for it.

Gladys had taken a strong personal interest in the Pallas class of C-Genomer. Their slightly smaller builds, their wavier, ocean-like hair, and their rounder, more expressive eyes compared to all other known C-Genomer categories made them look the most like the mythical water nymphs all of their kind were believed to be embodiments of. If only Gladys could find a Pallas who possessed the quaint beauty of her ancient counterparts _and_ rivaled the strength of today's higher-breed C-Genomers.

"Did I finally pass?" Kumi asked, a hint of sadness in her voice.

Gladys glanced over Kumi's head to see the Hagoromo piece: A charred, crumpled piece of rock without the faintest hint of celestial power emanating from it. It was an utter failure, but Gladys couldn't dare to tell that to one of her most diligent test subjects.

"You did great. It was a complete success."

Gladys kept her hand firmly on the girl's shoulder, leading her attention away from the platform so she wouldn't become curious and look for herself. Kumi tried to force a smile across her mouth, but Gladys could feel her heart sinking when she saw the obvious disappointment showing through in Kumi's eyes. Those big, innocent gold eyes.

Kumi was guided out of the room by two friendly doctors. Only when the exhausted girl was well out of sight did Gladys turn to Alec and sadly shake her head.

An hour later, after everyone else had left and the room had gone completely dark except for the glow of a solitary computer screen, Alec and Gladys were still analyzing the results. Alec tapped his fingers in boredom next to his keyboard, the Hagoromo piece sitting in a dish on a shelf just in front of him. Behind him, Gladys paced back and forth in silent thought.

"I don't understand," Gladys said. "The data I've analyzed on Pallas types makes it look like they should practically rival Ceres types. Kumi is the best one we've recruited so far, but she can barely turn the robe. She's trying to do everything she can to help us, but we'd be diluting the gene pool if we approved her for the next phase of the project."

"You've been on this pet experiment of yours for the better part of nine months and you still haven't found a single Pallas-type who can give you a decent zygote," Alec said as he shook his head. "I think it's time to move on. Maybe certain C-Genomer species are meant to be the equivalent of common worker bees."

He leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling. An improvised lullaby began to echo through the room in the key of Nerd Tenor.

"Zygote, little zygote. All your life has been blue. Zygote, little zygote, what will we ever call you? I know, let's call you Zio!"

Gladys covered her face with her palm as Alec's singing continued. Now he was turning it into an upbeat samba.

"Zio the Zygote, Zio the Zygote, dadada! Who's gonna mother you when you're Zio the Zy-… _wait a minute_."

Alec suddenly froze in place as if he were Boris at the end of GoldenEye. A brilliant thought had come to his mind. He spastically hopped back to his keyboard and started entering equations in rapid precision.

"I have an idea," he said, eyes glued to his flickering monitor. "I saw something like this in Phantasy Star once."

Gladys rolled her eyes. Alec and his random episodes of video game trivia. It never ended with anything useful being accomplished.

"That's it," he said in slowly building excitement, flashing through the windows on his monitor at blinding speed. "That's got to be it!"

Formula after formula scrolled through his monitor. A 3D rendering of the Hagoromo piece slowly changed shapes and colors, morphing its physiology on the molecular level. Then his mathematical model was confirmed.

"Oh my god," Alec whispered, his eyes like flying saucers.

"What?" Gladys asked impatiently, barely paying attention.

"We've been going about this completely wrong," Alec turned in his swivel chair as he answered. "Kumi isn't strong enough to turn the Hagoromo sample back into an energy source. But she did leave it in a rare transitional state that can be used for energy _deflection_."

Alec lifted the sample from its dish, rolling the petrified piece of space-silk in his palm.

"It's crazy. We never would have been able to pick up on it if she had finished transforming it into a live fragment. In its physical current state, it will offset the C-Wavelength of any matching entities within its perimeter."

"In words I can understand, Alec," Gladys mumbled.

"It's a neutralizer. Anyone who's carrying one of these can disable the energy field of any other Pallas-class C-Genomer. She'd be reduced to some random blue-haired bimbo. You could use it to finally bring in your elusive Type-A."

The gears in Gladys's head began to turn.

"Of course, you'd have to _find_ a Type-A first," Alec continued. "And since everyone but you has stopped paying attention to these girls, the probability of triangulating one in a suitable location is going to be somewhere close to zero."

Gladys's eyes turned coyly to the side. She scratched her chin in deep contemplation, brushing her nails over her lips. Then she gasped in epiphany.

Gladys burst from her spot at the desk, flew down the stairs, and made straight for the door like a midwife on the call.

"What is it? Do you already know of any Type-A's who are close by?" Alec shouted toward her as she ran.

Gladys threw open the door before she turned back toward Alec. She was shaking her head in disbelief as a joyous grin beamed on her face.

"I don't know for certain. Maybe. The chairman has all the details. I think her name was Kuruma."

"Where the heck are you going?" Alec asked, clearly baffled. "It's not like we can just up and send a retrieval squad right _now_."

"I know that!" Gladys shouted back in exasperated glee. "I'm going to Kumi's room. She needs to know she's not a failure. I'm going to thank her myself!"

With that, Gladys darted from the room and slammed the door behind her.

* * *

 _Author's note: Alec being a JRPG weirdo is canon. I just extrapolated on it._


End file.
